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Full text of "The Canadian Railroader Weekly. Vol. 2 No. 3: January 17, 1920"

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A Nruiapatier Seuotrli to the Uglfarr of AU Horkera bu itaub or IBrattt 



Vol. II — No. 3 


MONTREAL, JANUARY 17th, 1919 


Price: 


5c 


single — $2.00 per 
copy. year. 



O N June 1st, 1919, the in- 
dustrial sea in Montreal 
presented a calm, un- 
broken surface. Here and there 
the even tranquility was broken 
by ripples that came only to dis- 
appear again. The only agita- 
tion worthy of notice came from 
the water works crowd. The sit- 
uation was exceedingly simple. 
A very few men employed by 
the city in the most important 
branch of the service were very 
much under-paid. As the cost 
of existence commonly referred 
to as the “high cost of living” 
had been steadily increasing, 
these men declared that they 
could no longer exist, and that 
they could not fulfil their duty 
to the corporation of Montreal, 
unless the city would agree to 
pay them enough money so that 
the necessities of life could be 
^purchased. The men presented 
their case to the Commission by 
letter, then followed the com- 
munication by sending delega- 
tions to acquaint the commis- 
sioners with the full facts of the 
dilemma in which they found 
themselves. Thus it is quite | 
apparent that the employees of! 
the water works followed correct 
methods in presenting their 
grievance. There is no siu of 
omission honestly chargeable 
against their conduct. 

Then followed a period of 
silence, the impenetrable silence 
of Old Egypt. The city and its 
people rambled and rushed on. 
The stock exchange was a bedlam 
of excitement. Industry, intense 
< upon production, filled the very 
air with its roar. The storm was 
gathering. The black spots, the 
gloom falling on the industrial 
sea, presaged the coming storm. 
No one saw' and no one heard. 
There was no one at the helm. 
The ship was rudderless. 


To add considerable zest to \ 
the situation, grave enough as 
is was, the newspapers of Mont- 
real inaugurated with startling 
suddenness a new and exasperat- j 
ing policy with reference to j 
labor matters. One influential j 
journal. The Gazette, flooded the 
country with a booklet contain- i 
ing all sorts of editorial tirades I 
against labor. Others attacked 
the industrial conference. Others 
assailed the Minister of Labor 
and labor leaders in general, 
while all vied w ith one another 
in twisting and distorting coal 
and steel strike new r s until trade 
unionists fairly groaned under 
the injustice. As if to supple- 
ment the campaign to the last 
extreme of bitterness, the* word 


went around in labor circles that 
a suppression of all labor news 
was in order, and that advertis- 
j ing departments Would no longer 
so much as print labor advertise- 
ments. 

At this time the white caps 
could be plainly seen. The day 
had arrived w'hen it was sound 
sense to put a few 7 reefs in the 
sail. It required a sailor on this 
kind of a job, and at this period 
all sailors w 7 ere ashore and all 
land-lubbers were afloat. 

No matter how biased or par- 
tizan you may be, you will ad- 
mit that the situation was very 
simple even at this time. If it 
was common sense to provide 
enough fuel to furnish enough 
coal to feed the boilers (and the 
commissioners did this with 
scrupulous care), then it fol- 
lows that it was only common 
sense, sound sense, to provide 



enough fuel for the human ma- 
chines. who, in the nature of 
things, w'ere absolutely requisite 
in order to keep the mechanical 
machines; running. It has been 
w'ell established that it requires 
at least $2,000 a year for a man 
and his family to live, and since 
the Commission was only allow- 
ing $85 to $120 per month to 
the human machine, it w r as quite 
evident that there was a short- 
age of fuel for the human ma 
chine, and it wasNquite as es- 
sential to provide this fuel as it 
had been important provide 
coal for the boilers. FTTr-s^^mi 
long months the men quietly 
waited for the Commission to 
provide this fuel, but the fuel 
never came. The fuel for the 
mechanical machines, arrived 
post-haste, although these ma- 
chines could not gfo on strike, but 
the human fuel never came. 
Something else did arrive, how- 
ever, quite unlooked for by the 
city fathers, the soured press 
and the innocent and slumber- 
ing* public. It came romping in 
on the stage like* a mustang from 
Texas— The Crisis. 

So, on the 1st of January, 
after seven months of sound 
slumber at the helm, every- 
body was ayvakened with a crash 
that there were breakers ahead 
land breakers aplenty. The sit - 
j nation is not quite so simple 
| now. The Trades Council of 
Montreal, which is about the 
most conservative executive 
labor body in Canada, has flam- 
ed out into action. It passed 
a stinging resolution on January 
, 11th, in which it demanded 
an immediate arbitration of the 
I dispute and the appointment of 
a Royal Commission. Her<e is 
arbitration with a vengeiW, 
isn’t it? Arbitration! The very 
thing that the employers havX 
all been agitating for. 

The Trades Council also will 
inform the stately provincial 
(Continued on page 4) • ^ 




Page 2 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 



(From Our Own Correspondent.) 


A 


special issue of the Canada Gazet- ed of its object and encouraged the 


to bears the announcement that 
Parliament will meet on February 26th 
which is rather a later date than usual. 
The opening is even six days later 
than last year, but there was an im 
mediate adjournment then on account 
of the sudden death of Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier. The Cabinet and depart- 
mental officials have a space of seven 
weeks to make their preparations, com- 
pile their estimates and perfect their 
plans for defeating their numerous 
foes. Sir Robert will bo far away 
from the scene of toil and strife, 
basking somewhere on tire shores of 
the Spanish Main and thanking Pro- 
vidence that he has not to hold daily 
consultations with Messrs. Calder and 
Reid or listen to the glorious but 
sometimes unpopular plans of Mr. 
Rowell to “ cleanse the Lord’s vine- 
yard of all nurseries of vice.” 

The burden which has brought the 
Premier to his present physical frail- 
ty is adjudged too great for any one 
man henceforth to undertake, so Sir 
George Foster will not assume with 
the Acting-Premiership the task of 
leading the House of Commons. 

There had been a rumor that many 
Unionist ministers were to fare forth 
and penetrate to the furthest confines 
of the country where they would ex- 
pound the many virtues and lofty ac- 
complishments 'of the Coalition Gov- 
ernment in the last two years. But 
this project has now been abandoned 
and the country will have to be con- 
tent with a solitary oracular deliver- 
ance from the lips of Mr. Rowell 
which will be given at Port Hope in 
a few weeks. 

The public will be more interested 
in what Mr. Rowell refrains from tell 
ing than in what ho will tell. There 
will be a deal of fine sounding talk 
about 1 ‘ human brotherhood”, “nobleT 
paths of political righteousness” and 
^ a- finej^ idealism in politics”, but it 
will scarcely carry much conviction 
from the lips~ of~the man who as the 
Minister ultimately responsible for the 
recent activities of the Dominion pol- 
ice in raiding the library of the Uni- 
versity of Alberta and confiscating 
well-known textbooks of Socialism, 
is engaged in a constant effort to 
suppress freedom of thought and 
speech which i* only rivalled by the 
insensate raids directed from Wash- 
ington by Attorney General Palmer. 
Mr. Palmer has been staging his 
illiberal follies for political purposes, 
he wants to convince the “ interests 
that hyj is a steadfast supporter of 
“law and order”. 

It/ is to be hoped that Mr. Rowell 
is mot influenced by any such motive; 
lyj is more probably impelled by a 
'genuine fear that the fires of real 
revolution which will end in irreligious 
anarchy are smouldering at his feet. 
But he ought to be well acquainted 
with religious history and should 
know that persecution has always fail- 


which are eventually to follow will be 
all the more appreciated. The Senate 
Chamber will not be ready for im- 
mediate use, but quarters will be 
found for our venerable sages in one 
of the larger committee rooms. 


spread of the doctrines it aimed to 
suppress. Take the case of Gustavus 
Myers’ History of Canadian Wealth. 

Its illuminating contents were only 
known to a few perverse spirits till 
it was banned from the country and 
copies were taken from the Regina 
Library. Now scores of people have 
had their attention drawn to it and 
become fired with the ambition to 
read it with the result that such copies 
as are available are in steady private 
circulation. 

When Mr. Rowell goes to Port 
Hope to unfold his story, a body of 
his electors, if they have any sense of 
humor, should subscribe each a few 
cents and present him with a copy of 

the great work of Professor Bury of ! conduce to its better behavior. 
Cambridge University entitled “The The old Parliament building 
History of Freedom of Thought’’. 

Mr. Rowell will doubtless assert that 
with the removal of the Order-in-Coun 


j ful whether the new Parliament build- and only the very clearest speakers, 
ings would be ready for the next sea- ' or such as were endowed with throats 
siou, but in the autumn Mr. Sifton of brass, could hold the attention of 
announced the outlook to be more pro- 
| wising and Parliament will meet in 

! its magnificent new quarters. They _ 

uill be far from completely finished, j dition was that members found de- 
j but sufficient accommodation will be j bates, of which they missed large por- 
j available for the session to be held, i tions, exceedingly dull and would not 
n little pre - 1 stay in House. The attendance has 


the whole house. Cries of “louden-” 
were continually reverberating through 
the House. One result of this con- 


and even if there is 
Vi miliary discomfort, 


the luxuries ! grown steadily worse each session as 


it advanced and has often been dis- 
gracefully bad. The hearing proper- 
ties of the new Chamber are first- 
class as the result of the adoption of 
a special process in its construction, 
and members will have no excuse for 


The cost of the new buildings has | only issuing from their rooms at the 


been prodigious, far beyond the 
original estimate, but it is admitted 
by all who have had an opportunity 
of inspecting them that they are a 


sound of the division bell. 

One difficulty will arise in con- 
nection with the seating accommoda- 
tion of the new Chamber. It only 


credit to the genius of the architects j makes provision for two parties. lit 

who have done their work exceedingly the Museum there 


circumstances can elevate the 


polluted with the memory and stains 
of many horrible crimes, political and 
financial, committed by its occupants 


oil’s efficacy on January 1st, there j against tho people of Canada. A well 
was an end to all arbitrary measures j known journalist who visited Ottawa 
of censorship, but this statement will ' at intervals used to say he never saw 
be contrary to fact, as the amend- j the flag on the Parliament Buildings 
rnents passed last session to the Cri- j flaunting itself bravely in the breeze 
minal Code leave most tyrannical j like other flags; it was always droop- 
powers for the suppression of free j ing limp and sadly, as if ashamed at 
speech and thought in governmental | the misdeeds which were being per- 
hands. pet rated beneath the shadow of its 

Mr. Bowed could also make his folds. Let us hope and pray, that 
speech exceedingly interesting if he the new homo of Parliament will wit 


would enlighten his audience as to the 
real facts surrounding the late par- 
liamentary crisis in which he played 
such a prominent part. But this he 
wiiil not do, though doubtless, after 
his habit, he lias kept a carefully com- 
piled dossier of all the events and in- 
cidents connected with that moment- 
ous wrangle. There is, however, this 
to bo said for Mr. Rowell, that he is 
not afraid of a public platform, and 
is aware that it is the duty of Minis- 
ters and members of Parliament to 
give the electorate some education 
upou matters of current political in- 
terest. 

Of course the oratorical standards 
of most of the Cabinet do not sur- 
pass thoso of vice -regents of the 
Daughters of the Empire, and the 
average country auctioneer pursuing 
his profession would bo more interest- 
ing. Sir George Foster and Mjr. 
Meighen are the only two first-rate 
speakers in the Cabinet. But there 
are some Ministers who openly pro- 
fess complete contempt for the arts 
of platform and parliamentary ora- 
tory. Gentry like Messrs. Calder and 
Reid like to work at nights with dark I 
lantea-ns at their polities. Mr. Calder I 
is a sort of modem 1 1 Black Laird of , 
Ormiston” in public life. That! 
gentleman was a famous character at j 
the court of Mary Queen of Scots i 
who appearod little in public but was 
always on hand where dirty work at 
the crossroads had to be done in the 
then political world and a few of the 
Queen’s enemies had to be settled 
with. 

Last summer Mr. Cnrvell was doubt- 


ness a deep change of spirit and tem- 
per on the part of those that dwell 
therein. It would be better if a com- 
pletely new House of Commons had 
been the first to occupy the new build- 
ings, but this end may be achieved 
ere they are completely finished. 

However, it will be a great relief 
to both members and officials of the 
House to escape from the Victoria 
Museum where they have been tem- 
porarily caged since 1916. The 
quarters were cramped and there was 
an atmosphre of crowding and dis- 
comfort. The acoustics of the Com- 
mons Chamber were deplorably bad 




well and have given the Candian Par- benches which were adorned last ses- 
hameiit a home of noble beauty and j s i 0 ii by Mr, Crerar and his followers, 
grandeur which should, if external Next session they will have to pre- 

soul, i enipt for themselves one or other 
flank of the opposition benches. The 
Irish members in the British House 
used invariably, whether Tories or 
Liberals were in power, to occupy a 
certain sector of the opposition 
benches. It was suggested to Mr. 
Carvell when the seating arrangements 
were being planned that he should 
have them made in circular form to 
afford a proper neutral location for 
an independent crossbench group, but 
being a faithful disciple of the old 
party system he turned a deaf ear to 
the suggestion. The Museum will be 
restored to its proper functions but 
there are unkind cynics who suggest 
that the Senate should be kept there 
iu perpetuity as their most fittiug 
habitation. 

The address in reply to the speech 
from the throne will be moved by Mr. 
Hume Crony n of London, Ontario, and 
seconded by Mr. McGregor of Pictou, 
The latter is a very ordinary back- 
bencher, but Mr. Cronyn is one of the 
outstanding private members in the 
House, and it is a mystery why he 
has not been asked long before this 
to join the Cabinet. Not only is he 
an able financier but he is a student 
and thinker, and his opinions, too 
rarely delivered, are always worth 
listening to. 

If the Government choose to em- 
bark oil it, there is an ample field 
j for legislative activity but they will 
j likely confine themselves to absolutely 
imperative measures. 

Mr. Batlantyne is exceedingly proud 
of his shipping policy and as he has 
close affiliations with divers financial 
magnates who are interested in the 
prosperity of steel and shipping com- 
panies, it will not be his fault if a 
new shipping programme is not pro- 
duced next session. Already there are 
signs in the press of the skilful pro- 
paganda which precedes such enter- 
prises. Roseate pictures are being 
drawn of the immense advantages 
which would accrue to us if we pos- 
sessed a national fleet of passenger 
ships in addition to our freight car- 
riers. 

One measure which should be passed 
this session is a Franchise Bill. The 
War Times Election Act has expired 



The Worlds B. B. B. 
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B. B. B. Pipes are made of 
genuine Briar, flawless, thor- 
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made and fully guaranteed. 
Once you use a B. B. B. Pipe 
you’ll enjoy your smoke as 
you never did before. Your 
dealer will gladly show yeu 
many favorite shapes in B.B.B. 
Pipes. 


January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 3 


and nothing lias been devised to take 
its place exoept a temporary measure 
passed by agreement for the holding 
of by-elections. There can be no 
appeal to the people of Canada until 
a now Federal Franchise Act is pass- 
ed, and it should be one of the first 
measures tackled by the Government. 
It was expected last session but was 
put off, and now there are rumors 
that it may be once again postponed. 
If there is no machinery available for 
holding a Federal election, it will be 
a good excuse for staving off Events 
which might lead to one. But, as the 
Manitoba Free Press points out, the 
whole political situation is so un- 
settled that an election might come 
out of a sudden crisis at any moment. 
Two or three deaths of some of the 
older members of the Cabinet would 
almost make it certain. In its opinion, 
which is shared by many other people, 
Parliament and the Cabinet are de- 
liberately evading their responsibilities 
if they fail at the forthcoming session 
to pass a good Franchise Act, which 
alone can make a general election 
possible at any moment. Meanwhile, 
Mr. Mackenzie King has begun a 
course of education for the Canadian 
people in the principles of Liberalism 
and the main items of the Liberal 
platform. His opening speech at 
Newmarket, in North York, the scene 
of many of his illustrious grandsire’s 
conflicts, was scarcely calculated to 
set the heather ou fire. Like Mr. 
Rowell’s orations, it was full of mag- 
nificent sentiments, but left the Can- 
adian public little wiser as to what 
Mr. King’s actual plans for our re- 
generation are. However, he has 
promised to enlighten us concerning 
these in the speeches which he will 
deliver during the coming week in 
the Mai:' time provinces, at Halifax 
Charlottetown and St. John. He will 
be accompanied on his tour by Mr. 
Ernest Lapointe, who has a practica. 
mind and a fine grasp of the realities 
of politics. 

Mr. King has shown great wisdom 
in the selection of the officials for 
the Liberal organization at Ottawa. 
For the publicity work he has secured 
Mr. John Lewis, one of the best 
known and ablest of Canadian jour- 
nalist^, w r ho has had long experience 
as editorial writer on the Toronto 
Star and Globe, and as general or- 
ganizer he has chosen Mr. Andrew 
Haydon of Ottawa, who is easily the 
most progressive of the younger 
spirits of the Liberal party and is 
likely to breathe new life into the 
organization. 


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«-«~a*»-a~a-a-a^wwr-a~ 


THE TEST OF A MAN 

“The place to take the true 
measure of a man is not the 
forum or the field, not the 
market place or the amen-corn- 
er, but at his own fireside. 
There he lays aside his mask 
and you may judge whether 
he ’s imp or angel, king or cur, 
hero or humbug. I care not 
what the world says of him, 
whether it crown him with 
bays or pelt him with bad 
eggs; I care never a coper 
what his reputation or reli- 
gion may be; if his babes 
dread his home-coming and 
his better half swallows her 
heart every time she has to 
ask him for a five dollar bill, 
he ’8 a fraud of the first wa- 
ter, even though he prays 
night and morn till he’s black 
in the face, and howls hallelu- 
jah till he shakes the eternal 
hills. But if his children rush 
to the front gate to greet him, 
and love’s own sunshine illu- 
mines the face of his wife 
when she hears his footfall, 
you may take it for granted 
that he’s true gold, for his 
home’s a heaven and the hum- 
bug never gets that near the 
great white Throne of God. 
I can forgive much in that fol- 
low mortal who would rather 
make men swear than women 
weep; who would rather have 
the hate of the whole he-world 
than the contempt of his wife 
— who would rather call anger 
to the eyes of a King than 
fear to the face of a child.” — 
Philip Brunn. 


Mr. King ought also to be very 
happy by reason of a good turn which 
Sir Robert Borden ’s last act in Can- 
ada did him. The Unionist scribes 
had long planned to exploit Mr 
King’s connection with the Rockefel- 
ler Foundation and paint Mr. King 
at the next election as the subservient 
tool of the wicked Rockefeller family, 
who would at once hand Canada over 
to the tender mercies of the Standard 
Oil Co. But now Sir Robert, in giv- 
ing thanks for the recent gift of 
$5,000,000 from John D. Senior for 
a medical (research, testifies to the 
noble purposes and beneficent human- 
itarian ideals of the Rockefeller fam- 
ily. If Mr. King ever finds himself 
attacked for this connection, he can 
wave in the face of his critics the 
clean bill of health the Premier has 
given him. It is clear proof that Sir 
Robert is more of a statesman than 
a politician — a real politician would 
not have destroyed so valuable an 
electioneering weapon for his pairty. 

There is much lamentation in 
Unionist circles over this gratuitous 
folly ancT some loyal Tories sec in it 
final proof that Sir Robert has re- 
verted to the Liberalism of his youth- 
ful days and is determined to ruin 
both the Tory and Unionist parties 
ere he passes from the stage. 

J. A. 8. 


Why All Who Believe In Eduoation 
And Clean Politics Should Join 


The Fifth Sunday Meeting Association 

Of Canada 

and 

Vote only for Candidates to all Legislative 
Assemblies who are 

Approved by the Workers by 
HAND AND BRAIN 

Because a free and generous educational system is the con- 
dition of personal development, of vigorous and independent 
citizenship and of social equality. 

Because to establish such a system it is necessary to get rid 
of all class distinctions and privileges, and bring effectively 
within the reach of every boy and girl the trailing of which 
he or she is capable. 

Because while the other parties have shown that they will 
only tinker with educational reform, the Fifth Sunday Meet- 
ing Association is pledged to support all educational plans and 
objects, municipal, provincial and federal, where the evident 
purpose is to advance the standard of education on a par with 
the most enlightened and progressive systems in force in any 
part of the world. 

Because the Association stands for compulsory education. 

Because at least one out of every six of the children at- 
tending the elementary schools are suffering from physical 
defects that can be cured, and the Association urges free med- 
ical treatment for all children and young persons attending 
elementary, secondary and continuation schools. 

Because the Association demands the payment to teachers, 
in place of the miserable pittances which many of them now re- 
ceive, of wages suitable to the importance of their work. 

Because the Association' refuses to sacrifice the interests 
of the children to the exploiters of Child Labor. 

Because the Association stands for free, secondary educa- 
tion in High Schools and other institutions, and a more advanc- 
ed system of continued education than as yet prevails in 
Canada. 

Became the Association stands for the genuine opening of 
the universities, now used for the most part by the sons and 
daughters of the privileged classes, to all who are qualified to 
take advantage of a university education. As steps towards 
this, it advocates provision of scholarship and maintenance 
allowances. 

Because a real democracy is impossible without a demo- 
cratic system of education; because the monopoly of higher edu- 
cation is the formation of many other monopolies; and because 
the Association intends to make character and intelligence — 
not income or social position — the sole passport to/all advantag- 
es of education. 

If you believe in Education and Clean Politics 

Join the 

The Fifth Sunday Meeting Association 

Of Canada 

AND VOTE FOR CANDIDATES 

Recruited from the workers and approved of by the workers. 

The subscription to the Association is $2. per year, payable 
at Dominion Headquarters, 60 Dandurand Building, Montreal. 
Those who do not wish to become active members may become 
'contributing members. Write for particulars. 


Page 4 


- / . 

THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 









TRADE 


MARK 


It Takes $2,200 to Care 
for a Family of 5 

(TJw Railroad Trainman) 

Provided, of course, that you j 
get it, if not, then anything short j 
of that sum must suffice until the j 
theoretical arm-chair philosophers 
have reduced the cost of living 
and brought the family with the 
necessary income to a higher 
standard of living and the rest of 
us closer to the “irreducible mini- 
mum”, meaning thereby the lowest 
amount on which a family can live 
decently. 

We fell for a statement some months 
ago that came out with the suppos- 
ed approval of the War Labor 
Board and quoted it repeatedly to 
prove that the lowest safe and sa- 
ne amount on which American 
workmen could be saved from be- 
coming a “radical red” was $150 
a month, and when we got all ex- 
cited over the “governmental au- 
thority” that fixed the “irredu- 
cible minumum” and based our ar- 
guments for higher pay on what 
the War Labor Board had declared, 
we discovered that while the state- 
ment was quoted as coming from 
the representatives of the work- 
men and was not made unanimous 
by the other representatives, 
which naturally took, from the as- 
sertion of the need for the $150, 
considerable of its force, but nothing 
from the need for $150. This time 
we nail a statement of what it costs 
to live as it conies to us and as issued 
for the National Federation of Fe- j * n the budget as an allowan- 1 tials now existing be maintained, 

ck'ral Employees by the Press Bureau! ,!e ot a quart and one-quarter ol The writer cannot agree that 

flu* i .. milk ner <lav fnr tliroo r.uiwi. 


UNSHRINKABLE 

For long runs in bitter Winter weather, 

O.V. Brand Pure Wool Underwear 

is a boon to Railroad men. Made in two 
piece suits and Combinations in medium 
and heavy weights. O. V. garments are 
designed primarily for warmth, health 
and comfort, and combine, with sturdy 
wearing qualities, the best in finish and 
workmanship. 


THE WATERWORKS’ 
STRIKE 

(Continued from page 1) 


Ask your dealer for O. V. Brand 
Manufactured by 

BATES & INNES, Limited 

CARLETON PLACE, ONTARIO 


of the Women’s Trades Union League, 
1423 New' York avenue, Washing- 
ton, I). C. 

“Family needs of Government 
workers $2,200,” says Chief of Labor 
Statistics. 

“Washington. — For the use of 
the Joint Congressional Commis- 
sion on Reclassification of Civil 
Service Salairies, Dr. Royal 
Meeker, U. S. Commissioner of Labor 
Statistics has compiled a fam- 


milk per day for three little child- 
ren ; one and one-half pairs of 


ilv budget showing the minimum , Meeker states, is based upon the 


cost of a “health and decency 
standard of living”, in Washing- 
ton, for the typical family of five. 
The total cost of this budget, Dr. 
Meeker’s figures show’, is a little 
more than $2,200 per year. 

“The cost of the same standard 
of living for a single woman, as 
ascertained by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, is $1,083 a year ; for a 
single man $1,000. Dr Meeker ite- 
mizes the family budget as fol- 
lows 


! wages must be lower, based on the 

shoes per year for the father of pUr ' haS1 “ g power ot *1'° JolIar > 
the family, and one winter union untl1 some one > Wlth l )owor to a ° 
suit each per year for father and j s ?’ reduces living costs. We used 
mother. Other items in the budget l >atiently to listeu to the old argu- 
are similarly meager as to quanti- ; ment that prices had to be advau- 
ty”. eed to meet labor increases; we 

never did agree to it for, as far as 
our observation carried us, the 
contrary was the case, and that has 
been so firmly established in the 
past three years that there is no 
sense in offering it now. Prices 
jumped above an average of eighty 
per cent in living costs, a few em- 
ployes’ usages went above that 


It sorta- looks as if father and 
mother would have to go to bed 
on wash days. 

“The cost of the budget, Dr. 


actual price of food, clothing, rent 
and fuel in Washington at the pres- 
ent time as ascertained by several 
agents of the Bureau of Labor . , . . 

Statistics who made separate shop- l“ mo “ nt > but the g re;it "'ajori 
ping tours of the city, covering all ^ 
the representative stores” 


Employes of the Government do 
not need any more or any better 
living than the employes of any- 
body else. This is not a protest 
against the fixed cost of living 
for Federal employes, far from it. 


Food $ 773.93 j We are glad that so eminent an 


Clothing 

Husband $121. 16 

Wife 166.46 

Boy (11 years).. 96.60 
Girl (5 years) . . 82.50 

Boy. (2 years)... 47.00 513.72 

Housing, fuel and light. . . 428.00 

Miscellaneous 546.82 

Total $2,262.47 

‘ * That this is actually an irre- 
ducible minumum is urged by of- 
ficers of the National Federation of 
Federal Employes, who cite such 


authority as Dr. Meeker has stated 
the facts with all the evidences 
; possible from figuring. 

These figure, coming as they do 
from an authoritative source, and 
we have every confidence in the 
statements issued by Dr. Meeker, 
w T e feel that there need be no he- 
sitancy in claiming that railroad 
employes, now paid by direction of 
the Government, be recognized as 
entitled to that amount as a mini- 
mum wage and that the differen- 


ty there has been no comparative 
age increase, and living costs are 
still advancing in the face of all 
the fine speeches and splendid sug- 
gestions to the contrary. Wages 
must go up unless costs come 
down, and we can stand quite some 
boost in every class of transporta- 
tion service before we get to the 
“irreducible minimum” of $2,200 
per year on a wage basis of $4.08 
each eight-hour day, working six 
days a week without overtime. The 
average wage an engineer is given 
by the B. of L. E. is not above 
$2,400 a year, and an engineer is 
supposed to amount to something 
as an employe ; the wage of the 
rest of the service is considerably 
lower, far below the amount fixed 
as absolutely necessary to maintain 
a family of five persons, not alone 
at Washington, but everywhere else. 


powers that be, that unless there 
is arbitration and the appoint- 
ment of a Royal Commission 
there will be most likely a gen- 
eral strike in the city of Mont 
real. It is true that it will re- 
quire a two-thirds vote of the 
labor unions in order to call a 
general strike, but if this vote is 
ever taken, smug conservatives 
in Montreal will he .shocked to 
discover that the vote will not 
be a two-thirds vote, but in all 
likelihood will register that at 
least nine-tenths of the rank and 
file of labor will approve a 
general strike, thanks to the per- 
sistent newspaper campaign 
carried on against organized 
labor. 

A general strike hi the city of 
Montreal would be a terrible 
catastrophe. It would visit fear- 
ful hardships upon all classes. 
If it comes, it will be due to the 
obstinacy, the inefficiency and 
the utter inadequacy of our 
Board of Commissioners. In my 
opinion, it is high time that the 
brakes be put on some of our 
mischief-makers, and that a cit- 
izen’s committee be formed to 
deal fearlessly with this situa- 
tion. In its present stage twenty- 
four hours can suffice to clear 
the atmosphere and to establish 
industrial peace. Justice, sim- 
ple, clean, untainted justice to 
these men, the strikers at the 
water works, will bring us sound, 
safe peace. Injustice, partizan 
polities, pride and arrogance, 
will hurl us into the fiery pit, 
and all will be blasted and sear- 
ed with its consuming flame. 
This is the time and this is the 
place, and this is the real burn- 
ing need : — J ustice. 

(Newspaper reports which 
stated that the resolution of the 
Trades and Labor Council con- 
demned the Montreal Commis- 
sion and asked for a return ot* 
the old system, are absolutely 
incorrect.) 

George Pierce. 

fifoff 

THE WIDOW’S SPITE 


Tlie Parson — “Mrs. Smithers 
seems very cross with me — didn’t 
you notice she almost cut me?” 

The Friend. — “I’m not surpris- 
ed!” 

The Parson-~^“ But why?” 

Tlie Friend. — ‘ ‘ Don ’t you remem- 
ber when you were preaching her 
husband’s funeral sermon you said 
ho had gone to a better home?” — 
London Passing Show. 




January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 5 


HENRY FORD SAYS THERE ARE 

THREE KINDS OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES 


When two unreasonable parties 
refuse to reach an agreement, their 
quarrel should be confined to them- 
selves alone ; it should be prevent- 
ed from doing harm to others. But 
when, two reasonable parties can- 
not come to agreement, it is time 
to look behind the scenes for a 
third party whose interest is to 
keep them quarrelling. This applies 
to labor disputes as well as other 
disputes. Sometimes both employ- 
er and employe are unreasonable 
and do not seek agreement but 
conquest ; in which case their un- 
reasonableness ought not to be 
permitted to cause inconvenience or 
loss to the public. But there 
have been occasions when both em- 
ployers and employes were rea- 
sonable enough to be able to reach an 
agreement, and were prevented by 
hidden influences. 

It should not be forgotten for a 
single minute that though a strike 
may mean loss of money, time and 
peace of mind to all directly con- 
cerned — to workingman, manufacturer 
and public — it does not neces- 
sarily mean the same loss to every- 
one. 

There are interests that make 
money out of certain kinds of 
strikes. If these strikes did not 
pay somebody, there would be fewer 
of them. 

First, there is the justifiable 
strike — the strike for those proper 
conditions and just rewards to 
which the workingman is in all 
fairness entitled. 

The pity is that men should be 
compelled to use the strike to get 
what is theirs by right. No Ameri- 
can ought to be compelled to strike 
for his rights. He ought to recei- 
ve them naturally easily, as a mat- 
ter of course. 

These justifiable strikes * are 
usually the employer’s fault. Some 
employers are not fit for their job. 
Employment of men, direction of 
their energies, -arranging that their 
reward shall be in honest ratio to 
their production and to the prospe- 
rity of the business — that is no 
small job. 

An employer may be unfit for 
his job, just as a man at the 
lathe may be incompetent. The 
lathe man gets into trouble with 
his work, and so does the incompe- 
tent employer with his — one that 
he cannot handle. 

The unfit employer causes more 
trouble than the unfit employee. 
You can chauge the latter to a 
more suitable job. But the former 
must usually be left to the law of 
compensation. 

The justified strike, then, is one 
that need never have been called if 
the employer had done his work ns 
he ought. 

But there is a second kind of 
strike — the strike which may be 
named The Strike With a Con- 
cealed Design. In this kind of 
strike the workingmen are made the 
tools of some hidden manipulator 


who seeks his own ends through 
them. Whoever this manipulator 
may be, his designs will not stand 
the light. 

To illustrate this kind of strike : 
Here is a great industry whose 
success is due to having met a pub- 
lic need, to its efficient and skilful 
methods of production, and to its 
known record for just treatment of 
its workingmen. Such an industry 
presents a great temptation to 
speculators. If they can only gain 
control of it they can reap rich bene- 
fit from all the honest effort that 
lias boon put into it. They can destroy 
its beneficiary wage and profit- 
sharing, squeeze every last dollar out 
of the public, the product of the 
workingmen, and reduce it to the 
plight of other business concerns 
which are run on these low principles. 

Their motive may be fthe per- 
sonal greed of the speculator, or 
they may wish to change the poli. 
cy of a business whose example is 
embarrassing to employers who do 
not want to do what is right by their 
employees. 

But how gain control? That is 
the speculator’s problem. One of 
the simplest ways is The Strike 
With a concealed Design. 

It works this way: The industry 
to be attacked cannot bo touched 
from within, because its men have 
no reason to strike. So another 
method is adopted. The business in 
question may keep many outside 
shops busy supplying it with parts 
or material. If these outside shops 
can be tied up then the great industry 
may be crippled, and that is what the 
speculators want. 

So strikes are fomented in the 
outside industries. Every attempt 
is made to curtail the factory ’s 
source of supplies. It is a simple 
game when once understood, and 
the public has no idea how often 
it is played. 

Now, if the workingmen of the 
outside shops knew what the game 
is, they would refuse to play it, 
but they don’t know; they serve 
as the tools of designing capitalists 
without knowing it. There is one 
point, however, that ought to rouse 
the suspicions of workingmen en- 
gaged in this kind of strike. If 
the strike cannot get itself settled 
no matter what either side offers 


to do, it is almost positive proof 
that there is a third party, a hidden 
hand, interested in having the stri- 
ke continue. That hidden influence 
does not want a settlement on any 
terms. Its whole profit is in the 
trouble and the continuance of the 
trouble. 

If such a strike is won by the 
strikers, is the lot of the working- 
men improved ? After throwing 
the industry into the hands of 
outside speculators, are the work- 
men given any better treatement 
or wages ? 

Who is most likely to work with 
the workingman along lines of 
progress and properity : the ma- 
nufacturer whose home is where 
his plant is, whose reputation 
among his neighbors is dear to 
him, whose interest in his em- 
ployers is born of acquaintance and 
daily fellowship ? — or the outsider, 
the speculator, the profiteer, who 
does not know his men from iron 
spikes and whose only interest in 
the industry is to squeeze dollars 
out of it until it is dry ? 

That is the pity of some strikes 
which linger on and after set- 
tlements are possible — the deluded 
strikers are fighting the battles 
of cunning speculators and do not 
know it. 

Then there is a third kind of 
strike — the strike that is provoked 
by the Money Interests for the 
purpose of giving Labor a bad name. 
The American Workman has al- 
ways had a reputation for sound 
judgment. He has not allowed 
himself to be led away by every 
shouter who promised to create the 
millenium out of thin air. He has 
had a mind of his own and has used 
it. He has always recognized the 
fundamental truth that the absence of 
reason was never made good by the 
presence of violence. 

In this way the American Work- 
ingman has won a certain prestige 
with his own people and throughout 
the world. Public Opinion has 
been inclined to regard with respect 
his opinions and desires. 

But there seems to be a deter- 
mined effort now being made to 
fasten the Bolshevik stain on Ame- 
rican Labor, bj' inciting it to such 
impossible attitudes and such 
wholly unheard of actions as shall 
change public sentiment from resp- 
ect to criticisms. 

Tt is quite in keeping with higher 
disorderly elements that they 
should employ the lower disorderly 


LIKE THE HALL MARK ON SILVER 
IS THE WATERMARK IN PAPER 


THIS 

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elements for the purpose of des- 
troying the morals and reputation 
of the American Workingman. All 
the disorder does not originate 
with the workingman. Much of it 
comes from higher up. 

The ‘ American Workingman’s 
most valued asset is his reputation 
for cool-headed, balanced judgment 
and respect for law and order. If 
he loses that, what does he again? 

But — and here is the point — if 
he does lose that, the powers that 
would exploit him and reduce him 
to the lowest form of wageslaverv 
would be the gainers. Losing his 
good name, the American Work 
ingman loses all : his enemies are 
the gainers. 

It is time for us to ask some 
questions : If the workingman does 
not make money out of strikes, 
who does ? 

It is time for every striker to 
ask himself : Who stands to make 
money out of this strike ? Who 
will get the chief benefit if we 
break down this industry ? Whose 
game are we playing anyway ? 

The man who makes profit out 
of strikes, be he billionaire mani- 
pulator or self-seeking labor lea 
der, is a menace to the nation, a 
traitor to the well-being of huma- 
nity, and the personal assailant of 
every workingman. 

In the second and third kinds 
of the disorder which have been 
described here, the concealed spe- 
culator orders the strike; the dis 
honest labor leaders plans it; the 
rowdy element fans it into violence — 
and the honest misled workingman 
pays for it, and continues to pay! 

Anyone who knows the Ameri- 
can Workingman as he really and 
naturally is, must be convinced 
that he does not want to be the 
tool of evil designers who are not 
his friends and who cannot build 
prosperity . Some people make 
prosperity : other people sap it ; 
the latter devitalize and destroy 
it. 

There ought to be high wages 
everywhere — as high as the busi- 
ness will warrant ; and any busi- 
ness that is serving the world and 
is efficiently managed will warrant 
it. There ought to be profitshar- 
ing, too, that each man may be an 
partner and not merely a “hand”. 

But it is not the boss who makes 
high wages ; it is the men. If the 
boss stands in the way of men get- 
ting what they earn, he is not fit 
to be boss. The day has come 
when such a man will not be able 
to keep workmen in his shop. 

Once the boss picked out his 
men. Now men are able to pick 
out their boos. 

Big wages are not philanthropy. 
Big wages are plain business rights. 

The speculators who are always 
ready to stir up labor trouble are 
not interested in high wages. They 
are usually interested in hindering 
the man who pays high wages. 
They want to hurt him, to drive 
him out business. The American 
Workingman will not play that 
game, once he understands it. 

, Henry Ford. 


Page 6 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 


When Is News Not News ? 


Meeting Addressed By Minister of Labor Grets Some 
Queers Twists In Montreal Gazette Report. 


T HE Montreal Gazette on Jan- 
liuary 8th printed a lengthy 
report of a meeeting the previous 
night of the McGill Canadian Club 
and addressed by Senator Gideon 
Roberson, Minister of Labor. 

The heading said: “ Labor Min- 
ister Faced Hecklers. Fusilade of 
Questions Followed Address on Can 
ad a ’s Labor Situation. Some Bed 
Sympathizers. Minister Advocated 
Adoption of Industrial Disputes’ 
Act by the Provinces.” 

One of the main items of the news 
is in the last sentence. The least im- 
portant item gets the initial prom- 
inence. Three of the main news item.: 
get no attention at all. But the first 
sentence looks like a rap at the Min- 
ister of Labor, and the Gazette’s 
love for the Minister could not be 
seen under a microscope. The mem- 
bers of the staff of the Gazetto are 
naturally expected to conform to 
Gazette views in their work, what 
ever their private opinions may be. 
If a Gazette reporter had “ played 
up” one of the main points of the 
meeting, which was the Minister’s 
attack on the reactionary press (in 
which he included tho Gazette by 
direct implication), and if the var- 
ious other persons who superintend 
and censor the news in the Gazette 
office had let the report slip into 
print, what a lovely row would have 
followed! 

The openiug paragraph of the re- 
port as it actually appeared reads: 

“Senator Gideon Robertson, Min- 
ister of Labor, stirred up a horn- 
ets’ nest last evening in the course 
of an address at Strathcona Hall to 
the McGill Canadian Club on “The 
Labor Situation in Canada,” when 
ho undertook to define the distinc- 
tion between the legitimate labor 
union movement in Canada and the 
Revolutionary Socialist, or ‘Red’ 
element. In the course of his talk 
on this he discussed the Winnipeg 
striko disturbances at some length. 
It was evident that there were in 
the audience a number of sympa- 
thizers with the leaders of the trou 
bio f omen tors at Winnipeg, and at 
the conclusion of Senator Robert- 
son \s address, when questions were 
invited, he was subjected to a fire 
of criticism. As most of the ques- 
tioners seemed to prefer making 
speeches on all sorts of international 
issues, including socialism in Italy, 


Belgium and other countries, with in 
some quarters sympathy for the Rus- 
sian revolutionary movement by the 
Soviets and Reds, Senator Robert- 
3011 did not have much difficulty in 
winning the majority of the aud- 
ience in his persistent pleas for the 
orderly methods of legitimate labor 
unions, rather than the hopes of the 
Bolshevik elements to overturn 
ing order by violent means.” 

Tho main features of the meeting 
had no relation to a “hornets’ 
nest” as such an expression would 
be commonly understood. If the 
questions put to the Minister (fol- 
lowing the Minister ’8 own invita- 
tion) by only five persons, only two of 
whom might be termed critical, com- 
prised a‘ ‘ hornets ’ nest ’ ’, the hornet ’s 


| To begin with ninety per cent, of 
j tho 300 or so persons present were 
! McGill students, and they might not 
careto be included in the Gazette’s 
'j description. Of the remaining 30 per- 
sons or so, at least 16 were fairly 
well-known citizens wno, also, might 
not care to be included in the des- 
cription. This leaves about 14 per- 
sons, of whom 9 or 10 might have 
been of the so-called “Red” or 
“Bolshevik” element, judging by 
the trend of their public expres- 
sions at various times in the past. 
Even most of these never said a 
word or made any notable rign. 

“A fire of criticism” from “most 
of the questioners” seems to imply 
a fairly large number of questioners 
exist- primed with lots of nor shot. There 
were five questioners. One was a 
McGill student wdio asked if the 
Government had made any provision 
for employing students during the 
I summer vacation. Nothing very 



stinging about that, surely! Another 
questioner was the Rev. Mr. Burke, 
who took a philosophic line and also 
made it clear that he was a consti- 
tutional evolutionist. 


The Dental Clinic 
—of— 

ST. LUKE’S HOSPITAL 

Work executed in gold or in 
rubber at moderate prices. 
Onr offices are under the su- 
pervision of experts — not stu- 
dents. 

Free Treatment to Poor 
School Children. 
TEETH EXTRACTED PAIN- 
LESSLY BY A NEW 
METHOD 

VISITING HOURS 8.30 to 8.30 

88 St. Denis St. 

Between Dorchester and 
Lagauchetiere 
PHONE EAST 6782 


THE GAZETTE HEADING 


AS IT WAS 


Labor Minister 

Faced Hecklers 

Fusilade of Questions Followed Ad- 
dress on Canada’s Labor 
Situation 


AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN 


Reactionary Press 

Brings Revolution 

With Reactionary Employers Will 
Duplicate Russia Here, Says 
Labor Minister 


SOME RED SYMPATHIZERS 


Minister Advocated Adoption of In- 
dustrial Disputes Act By the 
Provinces 


GAZETTE LAMBASTED 


Employers Cause 71% of Strikes; 
Arbitration Grjat Cure; Stu- 
dents Applaud; Some Critics 


! 


Specialist. Phone East 1584 

CHAS. C. de LORIMIER 

FUNERAL DESIGNS 
Flowers, Natural and Artificial 

250 St. Denis Street 


capacity for blistering has been 
grievously over-estimated. These 
questions were, in auy case, a minor 
feature of the meeting, the four 
main features, from a news and 
community standpoint, being: — 

(1) The Minister’s statement 
that seven ty-ono per cent, of Can 
adian strikes were caused by em 
ployers refusing to listen to the re- 
presentations of their employees; 

(2) The Minister’s advocacy oi 
improved legislation for dealing 
with labor disputes by arbitration; 

(3) The Minister’s statement that 
if tho policies of reactionary em 
ployers were to prevail, there would 
be revolution in Canada, for which 
the part played by the reactionary 
press would also be largely responsi- 
ble; 

(4) The practically unanimous ap- 
proval of the Minister’s address by 
those present, as evidenced by the 
long roll of applause given at the 
conclusion. 

It was not evident that there were 
in the audience “a number of syni 
pathizers with the leaders of the 
trouble fomentors at Winnipeg.” 


The three other questioners, in- 
cluding Mr. Philip Faughnan (an ox- 
reporter of the Gazette staff) and 
Mrs. Fenwick Williams, did take is- 
sue with the Minister on various 
points relating to the Winnipeg 
strike, though there was nothing 
/ery lurid or smashing about what 
iny one of them said. The question 
period, indeed, wa9 a comparatively 
-a-me affair, and, as said, a minor 
feature of the meeting as a whole. 
Newspaper reporters know that 
many a W.C.T.U. or charity society 
meeting has developed more heat. 

The point of tho great cause of 
jtrikes was left out of the Gazette 
report altogether. Tho point con- 
cerning the means for reducing la- 
oor troubles was dealt with at fair 
.ength, but thrown out of perspect- 
ive. The summary of tho Min- 
ister’s remarks on reactionary em- 
ployers and a reactionary press 
might be described as a fair news 
iummary r , also out of perspective. 

Senator Robertson was obviously 
having a crack at the Gazette, as 
vvell as other papers, when he de- 
scribed some of the methods of the 


reactionary press, and the Gazette 
did not, of course, report the de- 
scription of its own methods as gvi- 
en by the Minister who did not spe- 
cifically name it but left no doubt 
as to identity in the minds of his 
hearers. 

The Minister spoke, for instance, 
of a pamphlet published by the Ga- 
zette which wa3 calculated to in- 
crease discord in the country. It 
contained a number of the Gazet- 
te’s anti-labor editorials, which brist- 
led with prejudices and distortions. 
He said that this pamphlet had been 
distributed amongst employers of 
labor, and that just prior to the 
opening of the industrial confer- 
ence at Ottawa (called for the pur- 
pose of helping towards harmony) 
tho representatives of the employ- 
ers had been supplied * with these 
pamphlets. Employers themselves 
had protested against the con- 
struction and the intentions of the 
pamphlets. 

Newspapers reports are frequent- 
ly' accepted as records of facts as 
they transpired in their correct pro- 
portions,^ and this acceptance is not 
always justified. Even labor news- 
papers, paraphrasing reports from 
non-labor papers, unconsciously re- 
peat the improper values of these re- 
ports. The news columns need a lit- 
;le watching. 



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January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 7 


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Page 8 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 


£5hp (Eatutiium fottlraator 

WEEKLY 

The Official Organ of the Fifth Sunday Meeting 
Association of Canada 

Organized Sept. 1916 

Incorporated under Dominion Letters Patent. 

April. 1919. 

J. A. Woodward, President C. P. It. Conductor 

J. N. Potvin, Vice-President C. P. R. Train Dispatcher 

W. E. Beriv, Srr.-Treasurer G. T. R. Conductor 

Executive Committee. 

S. Dale, C. P. It. Engineer; D. Trindall, G. T. R. Locomotive En- 
gineer; John Hogan, C. P. R. Assistant Roadinaster; Archie Du- 
fault, C. P. R. Conductor; E. McGilly, C. P. R. Locomotive Fire- 
man; W. T. Davis, General Yard Master; W. Farley, C. P. R. 
Locomotive Engineer; W. Davis, G. T. R. Engineer; M. James, 
C. P. R. Engineer; R. Pugh, G. T. R. Conductor; Wni. Parsons, 
C. G. R. Agent. 

Issued in the interest of Locomotive Engineers, Railroad Con- 
ductors, Locomotive Firemen, Railroad Trainmen (Switchmen), 
Maintenance of Way Men, Railroad Telegraphers and employees 
in all branches of the service. 

Membership open to all who toil by Hand or Brain. 

veany subscription: $2.00 Single copies ... 5 cents 


PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 
THE CANADIAN RAILROADER LIMITED 
«o daxdi;raxi> ihimhxg, Montreal 

GEO. PIERCE, Editor. KENNEDY CRONE, Associate Editor. 


3hr HHatmunrka’ lijrrnpH 


A subscription list was opened in the Star the other day for 
the purpose of rewarding the two heroes who stuck to 
their posts at the waterworks when their comrades 
went on strike. The plan was proposed, and the subscription 
list led, by a 4 ‘ well-known citizen” who evidently does good by 
stealth and would blush to find it fame, as all publicly known 
of him in the connection is that his initials are “A. L.” Sev- 
eral hundreds of dollars have been subscribed. 

Citizens are informed that the two recipients of the 
bounty, whose names have not been published, were shocked 
at the idea of the dreadful calamity that would follow a strike; 
inspired by a sense of duty and responsibility to the community, 
they spurned the solicitations of their fellow-workers, and, like 
Casabianca, stood loyally and devotedly at the posts whence 
all but they had fled. 

It is an epic in civic pride, and all the more remarkable 
because so rare in our civic history. Indeed, it is so remarkable 
that all should be clear about it before it is finally woven into 
the annals of our day. Having had the newspaper version of 
the tiling, the version of the strikers is needed to confirm it. 
The strikers probably know these men well. Even if they re- 
gard them as opponents of their cause, which is quite likely, at 
least they will acknowledge them as honestly inspired by the 
high motives ascribed to them. That, acknowledgement would 
complete the record. Without it, the record will be regarded 
as incomplete by all trade unionists and other persons who have 
given any serious thought to other strikes and know something 
of other heroes who stuck to their posts when their comrades 
struck. In those other strikes the heroes were nearly always 
men who sought to make personal capital out of the struggles 
and distress of their co-workers. Their loyalty, courage and 
high principles were much enlarged upon by employers and 
others who wished to break the strikes, and whose ideas and pur- 
poses they served for the time being. At heart even their em- 
ployers often thought they were pretty poor specimens. 


Their comrades seldom had any illusions about men who 
had so little sense of honor that they broke solemn pledges of 
brotherhood and allegiance to their comrades when these com- 
rades struck for justice. They called them “scabs” or “rats”. 
The words are descriptive throughout the civilized world of 
the lowest depths to which men may fall in the estimation of 
those who have shared their daily tasks. No amount of white- 
wash can cover up men regarded, by those who knew them 
best, as suppurating sores or marauders from the dungheap. 

It may be that the case at the waterworks is the remark- 
able instance of exalted and unselfish devotion to the citizens 
it is said to be; but in view of somewhat similar developments 
of other strikes, most of which were campaign cookery very 
difficult of digestion, it is only fair to everybody concerned that 
the record should be completed. 

K. C. 


gluing tbr domttrg, hg fork ! 

T HERE are many persons in the country who are fine 
statesmen, and willing to admit it. Quite a lot of them 
record their admission in letters to the editor of the 
Montreal Herald, though why the Herald should have a mon- 
opoly of such talent is a question worthy of serious thought. 

Amongst the latest statesmen to deliver their sage de- 
cisions from the Herald’s rostrum in one who settles the water- 
works* strike as easily and simply as rolling a chew of tobacco 
from one cheek to the other. Ho says that the strikers should 
be hanged or shot. The possibility that the strikers and their 
friends might be hanged if they’d bo shot, and need to be shot 
through with paralysis before they could be hanged, is a detail 
not considered by the statesman, but then, of course, indiffer- 
ence to detail is quite statesman-like. 

Another statesman writes thus about the high cost of liv- 
ing: ; 

To the Editor of Montreal Herald: 

Sir, — As there are so many remarks passed in regard to high cost 
of living from the educated to the working class, I think that the people 
have gone crazy. If they want cheaper living, stop the strikes, give the 
ten hours a day labor, do away with the unions and -cut down the wages. 
Some years ago, when living was cheap, a farmer paid $15.00 a month 
and board, when he has to pay now $50 and board, and hay was $12.00 
to $15.00 when now it runs from $30.00 to $40.00 a ton. Same with other 
farm produce. 

Again this land speculation which started some years ago bought 
up th e-farms and they are idle. Now let the Government tax all vacant 
I land that was garden land, or force the companies to cultivate it. Now 
as there is no use of kicking at H. C. of L., let us put our shoulder to the 
| wheel and see what we can do to reduce labor. 

A SUBSCRIBER. 

Chambly, Jan. 8, 1920. 

Wonderful! So simple and direct! What would we do with- 
out a statesman of his capacity? Is it not the case that the 
“Letters to the Editor” column of the Herald is the real place 
to look for solution of the local and national unrest? Why wait 
for the slow-moving machinery of constitutional government? 
Let’s have a little statesman-like revolution, and lots of nice, 
red blood spattered on the sidewalks! 

K. C. 


IGanraal|ir^®lk auk Npiu 


T HE politics of Ashton-under-Lyne in England were the 
subject of a despatch a few days ago on account of the 
fact that the Liberal o^gan in London, the Daily News, 
is advising the Liberals to withdraw and support the Labor 
candidate, as otherwise the coalition candidate may sweep in 
owing to the split of the two progressive forces. This parti- 
cular borough has interested Canada in late years owing to the 
fact that Sir Max Aitken, now Lord Beaverbrook, fought and 
won the seat for the Conservatives. There is, in fact, in Mont- 
real a number of people, engaged chiefly in the cotton indus- 
try, who form the “Old Ashtonian Association.” 

The writer’s recollections go back to the “good old days” 




January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 9 


of the latter part of the ‘ eighties and of life there under the old 
reign of Lancashire industrialism. At 5.30 a.m. there was a 
great clatter of feet, old and young, all shod with clogs, a form 
of footwear something like a French peasant’s sabot, but with 
iron strips to make it wear well. At six o’clock the machinery 
of the huge cotton mills began to whirl and continued until 
about 5.30 or 6 o’clock in the evening. All the employees w’ere 
“ hands”; that was all that counted. There were old men and 
women of seventy to be seen, as well as boys and girls of nine 
ten and onward. The latter were (at that time) half-timers 
that is, they rose at 5.30 a.m. and worked in the mills unti 
noon, then went to school for the afternoon, and many a time 
in the elementary school one of these boys would fall asleep 
over his lessons, only to be wakened by a cut from a teacher’s 
cane. In the main streets of this town, at almost every corner, 
there was a “ public house” over which were flaring gas lamps, 
which in days when English towns were poorly illuminated, 
caused these gin palaces to stand out with an inviting look. 
Between the superheated and noisy mills and their drab and 
small houses, was it any wonder that on Saturday night up to 
midnight many of the “ hands” spent a large part of their wages 
there? Yet not all, for among them were to be found the bes' 
supporters of the “ chapel”, since in that country the Church 
of England was generally held to be the place of worship for 
the rich and employing class. 

Child welfare movements were unknown at that time; but 
there were individuals who recognized their duty to the com- 
munity, and one was the Liberal member of parliament, wh 
was landlord for one end of the town in which was the par 
sonage where the writer’s father lived. For all who lived ir 
that block of houses, houses with nine and ten spacious rooms 
well built and light, let at two and a half dollars a week, there 
was a public library, a public swimming bath, and two play 
grounds for children, all free. The Liberalism of that day stood 
for the political emancipation of the masses ; but today the mass 
es are pressing for something more, emancipation from unfair in 
dustrial conditions, and the writer was pleased to learn lately 
that with eight hour and other similar movements, the factory 
“hands” were no longer subject to the 5.30 a.m. call of the pro 
fessional “knocker-up”, nor is it possible, owing to advanc 
ed factory and education laws, for children to work as “half-tim 
ers”, for they are required to work as “full-timers” in school 
If Ashton has any appreciation of these ameliorations, it will not 
elect a coalitionist, whatever may be the personal merits of 
Lloyd-George. 


§rijnola aa Mortal (Eantraa 


not get to the school until eight or eight-thirty p.m., had to leave 
an hour or an hour and a half earlier, sometimes when they were 
just beginning to “loosen up” and enjoy themselves. Another 
weak point was the scarcity of volunteers who were able and 
willing to devote time to organization of different forms of re- 
creation and instruction. That, of course, had nothing to do 
with the Board, but I sometimes thought that the question of the 
closing of the building at an early hour might have been taken 
up with a view to finding whether there was some way out of it. 
! would have taken it up myself had not personal circumstances 
leveloped which prevented me from taking any further part in 
social pleasures. 

Although my own experiences wer* pleasant in relation to 
he use of the schools as social centres, 1 had the impression that 
die experience of others was not so pleasant, and that the whole 
subject needed looking into. In the school I know best there 
are now five organizations using the school premises at night, 
though there is room for lots more, and need for them as count- 
er-attractions to the saloon, the pool-room, the street, the low 
dancing hall and the lowest typeof “movie”. I am told that this 
is an exceptional case, and that other splendid school buildings 
are not used at all at nights or are used by only one organiz- 
ation. 

Rev. Dr. Dickie says that one of the Board’s troubles is to 
find responsible parties to stand sponsor for organizations using 
the schools, to ensure that the right sorts of organizations are 
idmitted into the schools. This trouble can be sympathized 
with. My own impression is that the Board’s policy with re- 
gard to the citizens using the schools at night is not well enough 
known, and that if it were better known — perhaps some of the 
citizens might be informed through their own children in the 
schools — the right parties would turn up and the subject be gone 
into more fully than before, with a view to making better use 
jhan hitherto of the offer of the Board. 

K. 0. 


<5Ifp QDttly (EnttrUtBtmt 


T HESE three advertisements are taken from the issue of the 
Montreal Daily Star for January 8th: — 

WINDOW CLEANERS WANTED. — We pay from $35 to $40 a week. 
Apply New York Window Cleaning Co., Toronto. We will return your 
fare if you remain with us. 

PROTESTANT TEACHER wanted for Cote St. George School, Coun- 
ty Soulanges, holding first class diploma; salary $40 per month. Duties 
to commence at once. Apply to John J. Dewar, St. Telesphore, Que. 

PRESSERS on men’s coats; steady work; salary $40 to $48 a week. 
Write Box 1221 Star Office. 


R EV. Dr. Dickie, Chairman of the Protestant Board of School 
Commissioners of Montreal, told the Railroader this week 
that, so far as the Board was concerned, its policy, laid 
down some time ago, was to encourage the use of the public 
schools as social centres in the evenings, and that a number of 
different sorts of organizations already made use of the schools 
under the jurisdiction of the Board. 

It seems a pity that this policy is not generally known. Quite 
a lot of people think that the privilege of use of the schools un 
der the jurisdiction of the Board is something which has to be 
drawn from the Board with forceps, and, once drawn, is found 
to be difficult of working, if not wholly discouraging, by reason 
of censorship and regulation. 

Speaking from some small personal experience of obtain- 
ing and using school property on behalf of what was the first 
Fathers’ Club in this city, I can say that I found no hindrance 
to securing the use of school rooms, free of charge. I also found 
that everyone, from principal to janitor, was willing to encour- 
age the development of the organization. But I did find one 
difficulty, which was that, except on special occasions which had 
to be arranged beforehand, the Club was supposed to close at 
9.30 p.m. The reason, and a good one, was that the janitor re- 
sponsible for the care of the school had to get to bed early, as he 
had to rise early the following morning to see that the school 
was put in proper shape for the pupils. So far as the Club it 
self was concerned, it was a weak point of it that men who could 


Pressers and window cleaners are unionized, 
not. And there is the whole story. 


Teachers are 

K. 0. 


Every day the newspapers tell us that the water situation 
is normal, almost normal, Or will be normal within the next few 
hours. It is far from normal, and has been far from normal 
ever since the strike started. At the present time whole res- 
idential districts are still without water, and the firemen are be- 
ing seriously handicapped in fighting fires for lack of water 
pressure in a number of localities. Citizens without water and 
firemen without proper means to fight fires want more than 
newspaper assurances that all is beautiful and serene. 


The Montreal waterworks’ strike may be a blessing in dis- 
guise. For one thing, it has shown to the citizens what a dan- 
gerous and disgraceful condition the waterworks’ system was 
in, and for which the civic government was directly respon- 
sible. 


“Brigades of safety” to protect the citizens against strikes 
of policemen, firemen and other important civic servants are bei- 
ing talked about. The time to talk of them is after other “bri- 
gades of safety” have tried their best to prevent conditions 
vhich cause strikes. In other words, let us get at causes instead 
of sticking mustard plasters on effects. 


Page .10 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 


’ ♦ X'* &• ♦. or ♦# ♦ $1 ♦ +S£ 

! OUR SCOTTISH LETTER 

* • & •■ * ♦ ?$*-£+- &♦ #.♦ %,+ 

(From our own Correspondent) 

Glasgow, December 27th. , 000 loaves arrived in the city 


T HE moulders ’ strike is now in- 
to its fifteenth week, with 
a settlement, apparently as far off 
as ever. It was hoped that this 
weeks’ conference would have had 
satisfactory results, but the meet- 
ing une^pecstedly terminated 
without any definite decision be- 
ing arrived at. When the confe- 
rence adjourned last week the only 
point in dispute was one which arose 
after the moulders’ representatives 
had virtually accepted the 5s 
offer of the employers, and the 
employers had agreed to open 
their works on Monday first. The 
employees then sprung a new de- 
mand, relating to a strike which 
took place at West Bromwich six 
weeks before the general strike 
took place, the grievance being 


from Glasgow. On the same day 
notices were issued asking for 
bakers who are members of the 
Federal Union and willing to 
work under the national agree- 
ment. The names of 40 firms where 
employment could be obtained on 
the terms stated were given. Ef forte 
made by the strikers to hold a confer- 
ence with the employers met with a 
rebuff, the masters refusing to ne- 
gotiate on the ground that they 
were, and had been all along, 
abiding by the terms of the natio- 
nal agreement. They allege that 
the Dundee men had not played 
a fair and spare game. The refus- 
al of the masters was intimated to 
the men at a meeting. Resentment 
was shown at the employers * at- 
titude, and a good deal of temper 
was manifested by a section of the 


that the Workers’ Union members | moeting . A vote was 1akon a9 to 

worn doing moulders work. The whether work would 
deadlock in the negotiations has 


arisen over a point which the 
moulders and the General Labor 
ers’ Union centres round the use 
of a machine in moulding. Plate 
moulders have not all belonged to 
the Amalgamated Moulders ; many 
of them have enrolled in the Ge- 
neral Laborers’ Union. It seems 
that the trouble now is chiefly 
that the nibn’s own organisations 
are at loggerheads. Altogether 
the situation which has developed 
has in it the seed of a very bitter 
contest. 

Horse and Motor Men. 

At a meeting of the joint Indus- 
trial Council for the Toad trans- 
port industry for Scotland, held 
in Glasgow, it was reported that 
the following bodies had now be- 
come affiliated: — Greenock Cart- 
ing Contractors ’ Association, Glas- 
gow Corporation, Scottish Co-ope- 
rative Wages Board and Oowdeau- 
beath Carting Association. An offer 
was made by the employers in respect 
of payment of overtime, and in 
regard to holidays, it was agreed 
that the men be paid for New 
Year’s Day. A sub — committee 
was appointed to endeavor to come 
to an agreement on the whole 
question of overtime and holidays. 
The employers have made an of- 
fer of the following minimum ra- 
tes of wages: — Steam wagon dri- 
vers, £4 5s per week ; petrol mo- 
tor drivers, £4. 10s. These are to be 
the minimum rates for all drivers 
in Scotland. 

Bakers’ Strike Ended. 

The determination of the Dun- 
dee master bakers to carry on, 
despite the strike of the operati- 
ves, was proved by the elaborate 
arrangements they had made to 
get supplies from centres. Glasgow 
and Perth went to the rescue, and 
on Tuesday a train-load of 10,- 


be resumed 
or net and on the question of the 
national agreement. There was a 
majority of close on 200 against 
returning to work or signing the 
national agreement. A member of 
the Executive expressed disap- 
pointment at the decision, and in- 
formed the strikers that the Exe- 
cutive Council looked upon the ac- 
tion of the Dundee branch as a 
most disloyal one. He advised t‘he 
men to return to work, as there 
could be no settlement effected 
till then. The masters held a meet- 
ing after the decision come to by 
the men, when several of the larg 
est employers intimated that they 
had made arrangements with the 
bulk of their men to have work 
resumed at once. In view of this 
the Masters’ Association decided 
to permit a start being made. All 
the men returned to work the fol 
lowing day. 

Textile Women’s Wages 

After a one-day strike, the Scot- 
tish Textile Workers’ Union has 
secured for the women employed 
in the Bushy Spinning Mills, Kil- 
winning, the conversion of war bo- 
nuses into wages and advance of 
20 per cent on the total. The wo- 
men employed in the Wilson Mus- 
lin Factory, Bridgeton, also struck 
for similar terms, but have resu- 
med pending negotiations. 

Drapery Trade Reforms 

Retail drapery employees in Glas- 
gow, to -the number of 3,000 are 
agitating for a new wages scale, 
ranging from 20s to 100s per week, 
according to position. Other re- 
forms asked for include a 44-hour 
week and twelve days’ yearly 
holidays, with pay, plus all statu- 
tory holidays. The employers have 
agreed to meet the union officials. 
Failing a settlement, mass action 
will bo taken. A few firms have 
already conceded the demands. 


In connection with rthe demand 
of the Glasgow’ waitresses for re- 
cognition of the Federation of 
Women Workers, one firm has offered 
the girls in its employment an ad- 
vance of 2/- a week on condition that 
they leave the union. Two girls, it is 
alleged, have been dismissed from the 
same place for union activity. The 
Trades Council will give the waitresses 
the fullest assistance in their fight for 
a living wage. 

Checkweighers ’ Action. 

The Lanarkshire Miners’ Union 
has sent a telegram to the Coal 
Controller asking him to arrange 
a meeting to obv^ase a difficulty 
which has arisen at the Carron 
Company’s Cadder Pit. The com- 
pany has instituted legal proceed- 
ings for the removal of two check- 
weighmen, who are alleged to have 
refused to work during the railway 
strike, the men alleging blackleg- 
ging. The miners have struck work 
in sympathy. The trial has been 
postponed till January, but the 
Executive has sanctioned the con- 
tinuance of the strike. 


1912 and 1911, when the tonnage 
totalled 640,529 tons and 630,583 
tons respectively. 

Oatmeal Industry 

A measure of protection for the 
oatmeal millers was suggested at 
a meeting of the Edinburgh dis- 
trict of the Scottish Chamber of 
Agriculture this week. It was ex 
plained that the position of the oat- 
meal millers would be serious 
if some guarantee was not 
given. Owing -to the action of the 
Government, oatmeal was being 
brought into the country and sold 
at about 15s per sack cheaper than 
was the home produced article. If 
this state of affairs went on for 
another two years the oatmeal in- 
dustry in this country would be 
ruined. It was suggested that the 
Government might take steps to 
make this a key industry and give 
it a measure of protection. It was 
agreed that if the Oatmeal Millers’ 
Association prepared a considere." 
report on the matter, the Chamber 
would take it up. 


Clyde’s New Record 

Surprisingly large have been the 
tonnage and engineering output of 
the Clyde shipyards for the past 
twelve months. The totals are 
second only to those in 1913. In 
the early days of 1919, it was an- 
ticipated that, this year would see 
the establishment of a new record, 
but it became apparent, as time 
progressed, that not only was this 
impossible, but that in all proba- 
bility, there would be a decrease 
on the figures for a number of 
previous years. A great deal of 
labor and plant was devoted to the 
execution of refits and recondi- 
tioning mercantile vessels com- 
mandeered during the war period 
by the Admiralty, and the totals 
have also suffered as the result of 
the scrapping of partially — cons- 
tructed war vessels. Had all the 
labor and engineering plant ap- 
plied in the reversal from war to 
mercantile purposes been wholly 
available for constructional work, 
a record for the Clyde would un- 
doubtedly have been sot up. As it is, 
that record has only been postpon- 
ed for a twelvemonth, for about a 
million of tons of shipping work — 
the largest in the history of the 
Clyde* — is still on hand. The total 
number of vessels this year was 
406, their tonnage aggregating 
645,374, and the individual horse — 
power of machinery produced was 
1,537,781 .Last year’s tonnage, 
revised to current methods of com'- 
putation, was 532,094, and in the 
record year — 1913 — the figure was 
856,796 tons. Other good years were 



BUMS! 


Milk Mimicipalisation 

A deputation from the United 
Trades and Labor Council of Dun- 
dee waited on the Corporation’s 
Law and Finance Committee this 
week, with an appeal to the Town 
Council to support the municipali- 
se™ of the milk trade. Doubt 
was expressed during the discus- 
sion as to the exact nature and 
scope of the Government’s proposed 
Bill, and a motion submitted by 
Bailie Spence, that the Government 
be approached with the view of ob- 
taining powers to deal with both 
che production and the distribu- 
tion of the milk supply, was adopt- 
ed. 

Pay More for Tea. 

The price of tea and coffee in the 
Glasgow restaurants and tea-rooms 
will be raised from 2Hd to 3d per 
cup from New Year’s Day onward. 
A general agreement has been ar- 
rived at among the proprietors to 
rhis effect. The advance is attri- 
buted to the increased cost of con- 
ducting the establishments. 

Shipment of Coal 

The Minister of Labor announces 
-hat negotiations havo been pro- 
ceeding between represen fives of 
he railway companies, dock au- 
horities, collieries and coal ship- 
pers, and the National Transport 
vVorkers’ Federation and the Na- 
tional Union of Railwayman, on 
he subject of wages and hours of 
labor of the men employed in con- 
nection with the- shipment of coal, 
and at the request of the parties, 
the Minister of Labor has appoin- 
ted a Committee of Inquiry to in- 
vestigate the matter, so far as 
regards the hours of labor. 

James Gibson. 


Funeivvl 

foi\Ni5mNG5 

312,5*. (arfjerlpe 5*" Wejh 


INGENUITY 


Guest. — “Waiter, this steak is 
like leather and the knife is dull.” 

Waiter. — “You might strop the 
knife on the steak.” — Gargoyle. 



T 


January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 11 




Increased Production by Taking 
Labor’s Advice 


Reports in the public pres3 that a 
large measure of control had been 
turned over to the workers in gov- 
ernment arsenals, and especially in 
that at Rock Island, 111., have giv- 
en rise of late to widespread discus- 
sion. One would think, to read some 
of the published accounts, that a 
full-fledged Soviet system had crept 
in under the very wings of the Am- 
erican eagle. An article on the sub 
ject contributed to Industrial Man- 
agement, by the Secretary of War 
himself ought to set these fears at 
rest. We learn from Secretary Bak- 
er that the Government has simply 
been taking the advice of its em- 
ployees — a very good thing for any 
employer to do, and nothing new, 
of course, although it is commonly 
done informally rather than system- 
atically. The result, we are told, 
has been more than satisfactory, and 
Uncle Sam now has, at Rock Island 
and elsewhere, a body of contented 
helpers, in complete sympathy with 
their superior officers. Writes Mr. 
Baker : 

“Before the war, the harness-shop 
of Rock Island Arsenal was in a very 
deplorable condition from the point 
of view of production and efficient 
operation. A condition of antag- 
onism and distrust between the man- 
agement and the employees had 
grown up because of many familiar 
reasons, principal among which were 
the attempted introduction of so- 
called scientific management meth- 
ods, and the breaking of promises 
made to the men that any increase 
in production brought about by their 
ingeniusness, resourcefulness, and 
ability would not be used against 
them for the purpose of reducing 
the increase in wages which they se- 
cured thereby. As a result of this 
the men found that their only ve- 



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CLEANER Csumiteo 
5 S 9 ST CATHERINE ST. W. 
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TORONTO OTTAWA 


course was to place a deliberate li 
mit on production; thus the afore- 
mentioned resourcefulness, ingenious- 
ness, and ability of the men, instead 
of being directed into constructive 
channels for the purpose of improv- 
ing production and methods of man- 
ufacture, were diverted into meth- 
ods for limiting production. Their 
experience had taught them that 
when their inventive ability was 
used constructively it worked 
against them because it reduced 
either their earnings, or resulted 
sooner or later in discharges or lay- 
offs of their members. The normal 
progress in the purpose for which the 
shop existed was consistently retard- 
ed or limited. 

1 1 When the United States entered 
the war and it became very apparent 
that maximum production was of 
the greatest importance, the men in 
the leather -shop voluntarily agreed to 
take off the limits which they had 
placed on productivity, providing, how- 
ever, that piece-work prices were not 
reduced without their consent. They 
felt constrained to insist upon this 
feature, since not only had their 
past experience taught them that 
they stool a serious chance of hav- 
ing their earnings cut, but also that 
they might have to put up with such 
subterfuge as changes in operation 
for the purpose of providing argu- 
ments to the management to back up 
their insistence of reducing prices. 
Thus it came to pass that on a very 
vital matter, namely, the establish- 
ment of piece-work prices, the moil 
were given the basic privilege of 
participating in the process whereby 
these prices w T ere determined. This 
in reality was th*3 first recognition 
of the principle of democracy as ap- 
plied to the manufacturing industry 
-onducted by Peck Island Arsenal, 
a government-ow'ned and controlled 
institution. 

“The next thirg which they devel- 
oped concerned itself with the pol- 
icy which the new officer who was 
placed in charge of the harness-shop 
employed with regard to the parti- 
cular production and labor problems 
existing. Thh officer came from a 
firm which had a very bad reputa- 
tion with labor, and consequently 
was immediately regarded by the 
employees with extreme suspicion. 
The men, however, with clear-cut 
frankness, went to him and advised 


that they were willing to co-operate 
to their fullest capacity provided 
they found him square, and provid 
ed he would not hold it against 
them that they were members of a 
ogitimate labor organization. It re- 
mains to the credit of this officer 
that he accepted the situation on 
this basis, apparently realizing what 
it meant from the point of view of 
production. He was ready to agree 
to anything which in his estimation 
would bring about improvement in 
mutual confidence and good-will be 
tween the shop management and the 
workers. The situation eventually 
so developed that the employees 
were, permitted to select their own 
foremen, a very interesting and 
worthy enlargement of the principle 
of democracy already mentioned. 
Consequently, when the committee 
previously referred to, together 
with the democratically selected 
foremen of the shop, began to func- 
tion co-operatively with the manage- 
ment of the shop, a very remarkable 
change in the atmosphere manifested 
itself. The men had confidence in 
what was going on; they stepped in- 
to the breach and began to produce 
Old grievances, misunderstandings 
suspicions were all cleaned awa’ 
like a fog before a breeze, and 
everybody began to breathe freely 
and act enthusiastically. 

* 1 For instance, it has been the 
custom in the past to reimburse in- 
dividuals for suggestions which re- 
sulted in improved processes of ma 
nufacture. However, since these new 
relationships came into existence 
the men refused to accept these bo 
nuses, first personally requesting 
that they be paid to a central ben 
eficiary fund, but finally agreeing 
that even this was not the fairest 
arrangement and deciding not to ac- 
cept any bonus for any purpose 
whatsoever. They even went so far. 
as long as they enjoyed a genuine 
participation in the determination 
of shop-processes and piece-work 
prices, to recommend reductions in 
these prices when earnings became 
excessively out of proportion due 
to improved methods of manufacture, 
always trying to be consistent in 
one direction as well as another. 

“Many other specific instances 
might be cited to illustrate the ben- 
efits which automatically resulted as 
a consequence of the new spirit 
which came into existence... The ne 
result was a most remarkable in- 
crease in production carried on by 

contented and willing men 

“The War Department has en- 
couraged the formation of commit- 
tees of its employees in the arsen- 


PULP and PAPER 

Is now Canada’s largest 
Manufacturing Exporting 
Industry. ’ 

Riordon Pulp and Paper Company, Limited 

MONTREAL 


als, which committees consult freely 
with the men and act in an advis- 
ory capacity to the management on 
questions of shop conditions, pro- 
duction, and wages; by this means 
hearty co-operation has been secur- 
ed, and complete sympathy between 
the management and the employees 
has resulted. The authority of the 
management, however, is w r holly di- 
minished by the advisory relation of 
the committees — the management of 
the plants is undisturbed, the Gov- 
ernment operates them, the author- 
ity of the commanding officer is as 
complete as it has always been. 

“The whole purpose of the steps 
which have been taken is to bring 
about understanding and good feel- 
ing, but not in any sense to part 
with either the responsibility or the 
authority of the Government in the 
management of these industrial en- 
terprises. 99 


The Reward of Virtue 


Men and women who believe that 
f he modern system of society rewards 
people in accordance with their 
virtues should read the following 
appeal from a recent issue of the 
New York Tribune : — 

“Nine years * wear out of one 
suit and the garment still neat and 

trim looking, that is Mrs. D ’s 

record. One pair of shoes apiece 
for herself and the two girls, and 
two pairs for the boy are her larg- 
est annual expenditures. By means 
of such careful economy and stea- 
dy labor she has managed to bring 
up her three children ever since 

Mr. died suddenly, nine years 

ago. Now, however, cardiac trou- 
ble has set in and she can no lon- 
ger work hard. 

“Still, she keeps her tiny home 
lean and neat and trains her 
children to grow up into fine men 
and women and honest citizens. 
But her splendid courage and de- 
termination cannot enable her to 
do any labor, and the doctors say 
he must have absolute rest. The 
Charity Organization Society 
asks for $200 to assist her through 
’he next six month8. ,, 

Mrs. D — has all the virtues 
which our ardent social moralists 
demand. She is careful, economi- 
al, a steady worker ; she is devot- 
ed to her family; she seeks to 
nake honest citizens of her child- 
ren ; she is courageous ; deter- 
mined and self-sacrificing to the 
last degree. She has exhibited the 
highest social virtues ; her reward 
is cardiac trouble. 

This is a single case, — one of 
tens of thousands that proves 
beyond the possibility of question 
that there is no necessary connect- 
ion between virtue and income. 
Vice has its rewards and crime its 
profits. The most virtuous person, 
lacking special training or lack- 
ing the power that comes with or- 
ganization, is trodden under foot 
by our ruthless industrial system, 
which gives the good things of 
life to the greedy — not to the vir* 
tuous. — SCOTT NEARING. 


/ 


I 


/ 


Page 12 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 


What Australia Is 

Doing For Her Soldiers 

(Special to the Hailroa^er) 


A USTRALIA has been confronted 
with as hard a task as oursel- 
ves in providing for the re-esta- 
blishment of her veterans in eivli 
life.- In one respect it is slightly 
more difficult, her enlistments 
being relatively greater in propor- 
tion to population, but on the 
other hand, owing to the greater 
acceptance of the ideal of public 
ownership, both the Federal and 
State Governments are employers 
of labor on a large scale, and have, 
therefore, a greater control over 
the employment situation. Defence 
is, as in Canada, a federal or as it 
called there, a Commonwealth 
function, but it happens that the 
Australian States have retained 
for themslves greater powers than 
our provinces and possess the 
greater number of agencies neces- 
sary for the rehabilitation of the 
soldiers. 

As here, the system now fol- 
lowed is the result of a gradual 
growth and the original machine- 
ry for dealing the problem has 
largely been discarded. A begin- 
ning was made in 1915, when, at 
the request of the Parliament 
ary War Committee, State Wai 
Councils, composed of representa- 
tives of the Federal and States 
Parliaments, of Chambers of Com- 
merce and Manufacturers, and of 
organized Labor were set up in 
1915 and were able to do good 
work in finding employment for 
discharged veterans and providing 
assistance for them and their de- 
pendents. From these bodies, 
which were purely honorary, grew j 
•the Australian Soldiers’ Repatria- 
tion Fund in 1016. This fund was ! 
like our Patriotic Fund, to be rais- ; 
ed primarily by voluntary contri- 
butions in cash or kind, and to be 
supplemented by giants from the 
Federal and State Governments, 
But when launching the first cons- 
cription campaign in 1916, the 
Hughes Government announced its 
intention of raising a repatriation 
fund of £10,000,000 by a special 
wealth levy, and appeals for vol- 
untary subscriptions were summa 
rilv ended. The Trustees who ma- 
naged this repatriation fund met 
with many difficulties and compli- 
cations arising from the divided 
control between the Common- 
wealth and the States, and advised f 
the desirability of securing fuller 
control for the central goverment. 

Accordingly, at a Conference 
held in January, 1917, of Federal 
and States Ministers, the following 
resolution was agreed to: 

"That with the exception of! 
land settlement and advances to i 
bo made against improvements and ! 
for other purpose under the laws j 
regulating State institutions, the) 


j entire question of the reestablish- 
ment of returned soldiers and 
sailors generally bo made the eon- j 
j corn of a commonwealth autho- 
rity ’ \ 

Pursuant to this decision legis- 1 
jlation was passed creating a Re- 
, palliation Department of the Fe- 
| floral Government which commenced 
I operations on April 8, 1918, under 
j Senator Milieu, Minister of De- 
I fence. 

By the Repatriation Bill, there : 

! was set up a Repatriation Commis- 
sion at Melbourne, Repatriation 
| Boards at each State Capital, and | 
District Repatriation Committees, I 
whose scope coincided usually with 
| local government areas. Besides 
i these, State and District Soldiers 5 ! 

; Industrial Committees Were formed. j 
I All members of the Commission | 
and of each board and committee) 
Wire unpaid. It is provided that of 
| the seven members who comprise 
j the Commission and each of the 
[State Boards at least two shall be! 
i representative of the returned j 
soldiers and sailors. The chief exe- 
cutive is a Deputy-Controller in j 
eaeh state. 

The keynote of the Department's, 
aims was struck by Senator Millen : 
in an open letter which he addres- 
?d to the men coming home. "Aus- 
tralia is determined that every : 
returned soldier shall have a full! 
opportunity 1o establish himself i 
again in civil life", he said. To 
care for the wounded and sick, 
there have been erected and equip- 
ped houses, hotels, sanatoria, work- 
shops and training establishments, j 
All who are permamentlv incapa- 
citated will be kept in state ho- ; 
tels or maintained in the homes of | 
relatives or friends with a proper j 
allowance for sustenance. The j 
pension scale is on a 'slightly less 1 
liberal scale than the Canadian, 
but it should be remembered that 
the cost of living, which, before j 
the war, was little greater than 
ours, has only risen .HO p.c. in Aus- , 
tralia since 1914 as against 130 p.c. ( 
here. 

For the partially or temporarily 
incapacitated, vocational training 
is provided. They are classed in 
three groups. The less seriously dis- 
abled who can be expected to regain 
normal efficiency after a short train- 
ing, are looked after in the factories 
and workshops of public-spirited em- 
ployers, their earnings being subsidiz- 
ed to bring them up to the standard 
rate. The more seriously incapacitat- 
ed, whose present condition unfits 
them for the ordinary labor market, 
are sent to technical classes with a 
curriculum specially designed to meet 
their cases. Men who have no pros- 
pect of facing the battle of open in 


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dust rial competition, are provided for 
in national workshops. 

In regard to men who are discharg- 
ed fit, the Commission has acknow- 
ledged two guiding principles: — 

(1) That the true purpose of re- 
patriation is to secure the reestablish- 
ment of returned men in the industrial 
life of the community to the fullest 
extent that circumstances permit; and 

(2) That as a soldier abandoned 
his civil calling to serve the State it 
is the duty of the State to maintain 
him until opportunity of such re- 
establishment is secured. 

For this purpose grants may be 
made for equipment or for tools up 
to £10, which, after twelve months, 
become the property of the grantee, 


aim SuiikS Up U) .xiou, or in ceiwn.il 

circumstances up to £250, may be 
lent for the purchase of businesses, 
plant, etc. If the assistance is by 
way of loan, interest at 5 p.c. must 
be paid on the amount in excess of 
£50 till it is repaid. 

While awaiting employment or tak 
ing courses of vocational training, 
sustenance allowances, (graded so as 
to discourage malingering) are paid. 
The Department also provides oppor 
trinities for completing interrupted 
apprenticeships and grants subsisten- 
ce equal to the difference between 
the wages of an apprentice an<l a 
qualified artisan. If men are anxious 
to change their occupation, they can 
be given a complete training in what- 
ever new calling they select. There is 
no attempt to define reinstatement 
merely as restoration to a position 
similar to that occupied before en- 
listment. 

In addition to -the regular pensions, 
which range from £2.11 ($12.00) per 
week for a widow and one child to 
£3-5 ($15.00) for a widow and five 
children, special grants up to £25 
may be made to war widows in neces- 
sitous circumstances by way of gift, 
and as much as £150 may be advanced 
to secure discharges of mortgages. 
Special privileges have also l>een sec. 
ured for the education of the children 
of soldiers who have fallen. The Com- 
mission has also formulated a War 
Service Homes Scheme which is the 
particular pet of Senator Millan. It 
has a double purpose, to promote ex 
tensive building operations for the 
direct benefit of veterans, and to pro- 
vide funds for applicants who desire 



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January 17th, 1919 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


Page 13 


to build for themsolvos or to acquire 
houses already built. The maximum 
sum which can be advanced is £700 
and the Commonwealth Bank, a most 
prosperous institution, co-operates in 
financing? the scheme. The Oonv 
rnission is encouraging the creation of 
industrial centres in the country with 
a view to checking the tendency to 
overcrowding into a few great urban 
communities, which has become a 
greater evil in Australia even than 
here. 

It was inevitable that kind settle- 
ment schemes should receive great at- 
tention. It happened, however, that 
the only land controlled by the Com- 
monwealth Government ' was in the 
Northern Territory and Papua, both 
quite unsuited for white settlement. 
8 o it was agreed that the Common- 
wealth should provide the funds and 
the States secure the land. In Jan- 
uary, 1917, a Soldier Settlement 
Board, comprising one Minister from 
each State and one from the Common- 
wealth, was set up to coordinate pol- 
icy. In all the States, save Queens- 
land and West Australia, the local 
government has been compelled to buy 
land and develop railway facilities ere 
it could proceed with any plans, j 
Queensland and Australia had some 
free land available. The holdings of 
the soldier settlers, which include I 
many blocks of irrigated lands, com- j 
prise land suitable for sheep, for 
wheat and dairying, vine culture and 1 
market gardening, the keeping of , 
poultry and pigs, etc. 

The Commonwealth a d v a n c e s 
through the States sums up to a ma- i 
ximum of £(325 ($3,000) for each 

settler. The States are also lending 
money to construct railways which 
will give better access to markets and 
factories which will dispose of var- ; 
ions products grown by the settlers. 
Important experiments are being car- ■ 
vied out with group settlements. They 
remove the drawbacks of rural isola- 
tion and provide opportunities for the 
co-operative purchase, sale and pro- ! 
deletion of goods as well as making 
initial supervision and instruction in- 
finitely easier. 

Comprehensive courses of practical ; 
training on government experimental! 
farms are also available for the pro- ■ 
spective settler. The main idea of the j 
agricultural policy of the department 


is to add to the number of successful 
primary producers in the Common- 
wealth. Up to June 30, 1919, over 
4,000 soldiers had been settled on the 
and, and Senator Milieu expected 
that the number would reach 17,000 
before the year ended, 
j The Repatriation Department has 
now surmounted its maximum period 
of strain. All save a small minority 
of the Australian Army have been 
transported home, and despite a ser- 
ious seamen’s strike and a drought of 
terrible severity which caused enorm- 
ous losses to farmers, not more than 
4 p.e. were unprovided for in Septem- 
ber. 

Financing of the various schemes 
percents certain difficulties. War 
pensions already reach an annual 
charge of £5,230,000 ($25,000,000) 
and $(5,000,000 had on June 30, 1919, 
been distributed by way of gift. The 
War Hours scheme is expected to cost 
£50,000,000 and between £30,000,000 
and £40,000,000 will be required for 
the land settlement schemes. Much 
of this money will be advanced by 
way of loan and will eventually be re- 
turned, but to procure it in the mean- 
time is demanding special efforts by 
the Commonwealth Treasury. 

However, the Australian Finance 
Minister has been beset by none of 
the tender scruples of Sir Thomas 
White. The wealth and population 
of Australia are each estimated at 
five-eights of Canada \s. In the first 
year of our income tax, about $10,- 
000,000 was levied through it, and 
we are told it was impossible to set 
up efficient machinery at once. But 
Australia took by income tax $20,000,- 
000 in its initial year, and is now 
taking nearly $40,000,000 every year 
as well as levying a federal land tax 
and succession duties. Australia con- 
templates a much greater expenditure 
per capita of population on the re- 
patriation of her veterans than Can- 
ada as represented by her present ad- 
ministration does, but she has had the 
foresight and courage to provide the 
necessary funds by a decently demo- 
cratic system of taxation which our 
rulers have so far avoided as the 
plague. During the recent election 
campaign large additional gratuities 
were .promised the veterans by both 
sides, but it remains to be seen if 
they will actually be given. 


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The Fifth Sunday Meeting Association of Canada 

Its Only Aim Is The Welfare of The Masses. 

The people of a nation cannot advance beyond the men who make its 
laws, and the Fifth Sunday Meeting Association of Canada exists to sec 
to it that the workers by hand and brain are directly represented in the 
law-making bodies of the Dominion; to find, train and elect the right mcn- 
of our own class in order to secure the kind of legislation that will protect 
and advance the interests of the workers. 

It will wage warfare on plutocracy, despotism, economic privileges, 
and upon all the evil forces which burden the people and rob them of that 
happiness of living which is their fundamental right. 

It is a non-partisan educational and political association, and because 
of the manner in which it is organized can never become the instrument 
or plaything of a small group of any class, particularly of wealthy men 
The aim is the attainment of true democracy. 

WE PLEDGE OURSELVES:— 

To support all municipal, provincial and federal educational plans 
where the evident purpose is to raise the standard of education in en 
lightened and progressive ways; to present truthfully aud fearless!} 
through the medium of Fifth Sunday Meetings and our own press, tin* 

| ‘Canadian Railroader ”, the latest aud most important political, social and 
industrial developments; 

To advocate the abolition of property qualifications for the franchise 
or for election to public office; the adoption of the Initiative, Referendum 
and Recall, and of proportional representation in all forms of public 
governmeut; universal suffrage for both sexes, on the basi9 of one person, 
one vote; the transfer of taxes from improvements, and all products of 
labor, to land values, incomes and inheritances; 

To advocate prison reform, including introduction of the honor and 
segregation systems, and abolition of contract labor; the enactment aud 
rigid enforcement of child labor laws; pensions for mothers with dependent 
•Inldren ; regulation of immigration to prevent lowering of industrial, poli- 
tical or social standards; development of the postal savings and parcel post 
systems; financial and other assistance to fanners through cooperative 
anks and by other means; government development of co-operative pra 
lucing and trading associations for the benefit of the consumer; 

To advocate extension of workmen’s housing schemes and the labor 
bureau system; provision of technical education for every willing worker, 
according to his capacities; more effective inspection of buildings, factories, 
workshops and mines; minimum wages; a rest period of not less than a day 
and a half per week for every worker; government insurance of workers 
against sickness, injury and death; maternity benefits and old-age pensions; 
better Workmen’s Compensation Acts; representation of the workers on all 
public boards and on boards for the supervision of private enterprises; 
union labor conditions in all government work; adequate pensions aud op- 
portunities for soldiers and their dependents; 

To advocate freedom of speech aud of the press, and a law compelling 
all newspapers and periodicals to publish in all issues a complete list of 
shareholders and bondholders. 

“The Fifth Sunday Meeting Association of Canada” is financed en- 
tirely by its members who contribute $2 a year in membership fees. If a 
local has been established in your city $1 remains in the local treasury and 
the other dollar is sent by the local organization to our Dominion Head 
quarters, 60 Dandurand Building, Montreal, Quo. In case no local has been 
established in your community, send the membership fee of $2 directly to 
Dominion Headquarters. 

The funds accumulating in the Dominion Headquarters are used for 
poli t ical and educational propaganda; the development of the organization ; 
the preparation of pamphlets and leaflets and the financing of the various 
political campaigns where favorable opportunities develop, to elect our 
candidates. The treasurer is under bond and the books are audited by a 
firm of accountants. 

An application blank will be found below Merely fill out the applica- 
tion blank, buy a postal order for $2 and send it to Dominion Headquarters 
Your membership card will be forwarded by return mail. Join this great 
organization in the interests of education and clean politics. Today is the 
day and this is the hour. Become a member now. 

! APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP 

t 4 

* To the Secretary, 4 

* The Fifth Sunday Meeting Association of Canada, | 

4 General Headquarters, 60 Dandurand Building, * 

* MONTREAL, Que. 

* I hereby make application for membership in “The Fifth Sunday 4 

* Meeting Association of Canada.” I subscribe and agree to pay, < 

4 while a member, the yearly fee of $2.00 in advance. * 

+ 

* Name 4. 

f f 

; Amount paid $ Address ♦ 


Date 


City. 


* Province ♦ 

* Make all cheques and money orders payable to “ The Fifth * 

* Sunday Meeting Association of Canada.* ' ♦ 

* Official membership card will be mailed from headquarters, £ 
+ with copy of platform , constitution and general rules. 

* ♦ 



Page 14 


THE CANADIAN RAILROADER 


January 17th, 1919 


* 

* 


Labor Minister Makes 
Proposals For Unifying 
Labor Laws For All 
Canada. 

Following up his recent address 
at the McGill Canadian Club, Hon. 
Gideon Robertson, Minister of Labor, 
has made proposals to the Que- 
bec Provincial Government for the 
appointment of a provincial com- 
mittee, with representatives from 
the Labor Department of the Pro- 
vincial Government, the Canadian 
Manufacturers ’ Association, re- 
presenting the employers, and the 
Trades and Labor Council, repre- 
senting the unions to join with 
representatives from other provin- 
ces in an inter-provincial confe- 
rence, probably to be held at Ot- 
tawa, with a view to unifying the 
laws regarding labor throughout 
the Dominion, so as to secure the 
application of the Industial Dis- 
putes Act not only to Federal but 
to Provincial and municipal dis- 
putes. 

In his letter to Premier Gouin, 
the Minister of Labor sets forth 
that the whole proposition for the 
interprovincial conference had grown 
from a resolution at the National In- 
dustrial Conference at Ottawa last 
September, to the following effect: 

“Resolved — That the advantage 
of uniformity in the laws relating 
to the welfare of those engaged in 
industrial work in the several pro- 
vinces of the Dominion of Canada 
be brought to the attention of the 
Government of Canada and Govern 
mente of the various provinces 
respectively; and that this National 
Industrial Conference suggest the fol- 
lowing as a means toward the end 
desired : 

“The appointment of a board 
composed as follows : 

“1 — As respects the Dominion 
Government, (a) A representative 
of the Government ; (b) a repre- 
sentative of the employers; (c) a 
representative of the erardoyees. ” 

Similiar representation was re- 
commended from each of the pro- 
vinces, the resolution proceeding: 

“And that the Dominion Gov- 
ernment be requested to ask the 
Governments of each of the pro- 
vinces to select, otr have selected 
representatives of the provinces, 
as above set forth”. 

It is stated that most of the 
other provinces of the Dominion 
have already been communicated 
with by Hon. Gideon Robertson, 
with regard to sending delegates 
to an interprovincial conference 
for the unification of law’s offer- 
ing labor, and have already named 
representatives of the three par- 
parties, Government, employees 
and employers. 

:0 ; i ■ — 


High -Souled Journalism 


S OME newspaper publishers in | to a fair, free and fearless press, 
the United States and Canada 1 such as, the publishers assure us, 


are taking a high-souled view of 
the journalistic profession these 
days. Journalists, they say, have 
a great mission in life, a grave res- 
ponsibility to the dear peepul. 
Their is the task of courageouly, 
truthfully and without bias pre- 
senting all the news that is fit to 
print. Theirs is the duty to keep 
themselves free from the control or 
other influence of any class or 
interest in order that the citizens 
of the country shall be safeguard- 
ed. All of which readeth fine. 

The truth is, however, that 
journalists generally rarely require 
any lessons in ethics from publish- 
ers ; that, on the contrary, some 
publiohers might well profit by 
the ethical examples set by their 

own journalistic employees. 

The great majority of journalists 
are men and women working ear- 
nestly and in good faith, if not 
always in good judgment, as mem- 
bers of what they try to make an 
honorable profession, fully con- 
scious of their duties and respon- 
sibilities to the public, generally 

living from hand to mouth, yet 
just as generally impervious to the 
temptations of bribery and cor- 
ruption that come their way. They 

want to be fair and just and truthful, 
and they are the^e things as far as it 
is possible for them to be, co-incident 
with the preservation of the jobs 
on which their economic destinies, 
and the destinies of those they love, 
depend; for, after all, they are only 
employees. Frequently they are fair 
and just and truthful at considera- 
ble sacrifice of self-interest, and 
without hope that the dear peepul 
whose interests they seek to de- 
fend will ever hear anything about 
their sacrifice. 

This being the case, what, then, 
does this sudden splurge of high- 
souled views from publishers 
mean? How much of it is as high- 
souled as it claims to be, and 
how much of it is just plain hum- 
bug? How much of it is due to 
a burning passion for the interests 
of the dear peepul, and the noble 
profession of journalism, and how 
much of it is hypocritical snivel- 
ling with an ulterior motive ? 

A notable fact is that most of it 
comes to light in direct or side -swipe 
relation to newswriters unions of 
the International Typographical 
Union. Some American and Cana- 
dian journalists, following the 
awful example of about 6,i>00 of 
their British and Australasian 
comrades, have lowered their pro- 
fessional dignity by becoming part 
and parcel of organized labor — 
good heavens ! They have mingled 
with the common herd ; gone clean 
to the demnition bow-wows ! 
They have, we are told, become 
fierce partisaais of a class move 
ment and this is ruinous to 
the conduct of virtuous journalism, 


with hands on heart and eyeballs 
upward turned, we have always 
had in these sweet lands of liberty 
and democracy. 

What is the real creed of some 
of these publishers, not as expres- 
sed in their carefully-prepared 
words for all to read, but taken, 
as they must be, together with 
the record of their daily deeds ? 
Put into words it would probably 
be something like this : 

1 1 We w'ant to k ill these news 
writers* unions. We know that 
they are of the ordinary legal va- 
riety, but they would take from 
us some of the control of wages 
and working conditions. Our au- 
tocracy would be endangered, and 
that would never do. Instead of 
serfs, our journalists would be just 
as free as railroaders and plumb- 
ers. The only kind of free press 
we want is the press with all the 
freedom on our side ; it would be 
frightfully embarrassing to us if 
journalists were able to talk freely 
without having their heads loppe 
off. But we must be careful of the 
manner in which we attack news- 
writers unions. They are allied to 
organized labor, and organized la- 
bor has a nasty knack of return- 
ing a kick with a blacksmith’s 
wallop. We shall harass and perse- 
cute the unionists in our own of- 
fices, which is our Heaven-sen' 
privilege, and we shall try to take 
from under them the power of or- 
ganized labor, without which we 
would have shown them where they 
got off at some time ago. We mav 
even say how much we appreciate 
organized labor generally, but 
that in journalism, of course, it is 
a different matter. So let ’s talk 
ethics, and also support non-union 
organizations which we can con- 
trol. 

“Ethics may lull organized la- 
bor to sleep (especially as we 
don’t intend to let union journal- 
ists present their side of the case 
in our newspapers), and, as for the 
general public, well ,they like to 
be buncoed by fine phrases, any- 
way. 

“We do not say so in our edi- 
torial columns, of course, but real- 
ly we believe in Prussianism, Czar- 
: sm, the Star Chamber, the In- 
quisition, the Strong Arm and the Big 
Stick. We like the Inquisition par- 
ticularly, because there is a show 
of conscience, * harmonizing with 
our parade of ethics, that although 
we are using painful methods on 
the union heretics, the torture 
is really for the good of their own 
souls. ’ ’ 

So if you happen to come across 
newspaper publicity on journalis- 
tic ethics requiring that journalists 
shall not belong to a union, con- 
sider whether the newspapers doth 
not protest too much. 

K. 0. 


NORTHCLIFFE GIVES 

WRITERS FIVE DAY WEEK; 

APPROVES UNIONS 

All regular editors, special writ- 
ers and reporters of the London 
Times, Daily Mail, and Evening 
News are to have two days each 
week for rest or recreation under 
the “five-day working week,” which 
Lord Northcliffo is introducing in 
his newspaper properties. 

The writing staffs of the Times 
and Dail Mail have already been re- 
organized on this basis, and the sys- 
tem is to be extended to the Even- 
ing News. 

The same system is to be arranged 
in the near future for all others on 
these papers , including all members 
of the business staf*3 and the print- 
ing and mechanical forces. This is 
not possible at present on account 
of the scarcity of skilled labor. 

Lord Northcliffe ’s view is that all 
men, especially those engaged in 
brain work, attain their highest ef- 
ficiency by this division of work 
and recreation and by a complete 
change at these regular and fre- 
quent intervals. 

Speaking last month to the Pres- 
ident of the British National Union 
of Journalists, Lord Northcliffe said: 

“I congratulate the Union on the 
success of its latest effort on behalf 
of the journalists of London. I say 
this as a warm supporter of the 
principles on which, the Union is 
founded, and of many of the pol- 
icies which it is pursuing. Its con- 
stitution is rightly framed and its 
organization is the best instrument 
of progress for the working journal- 
ists of this country. The main 
points of the Union’s programme — 
better pay, shorter hours and longer 
holidays — have my unreserved ap- 
proval. 

“I believe in trade unions and 
ike them. I find it better to deal 
with organized labor than with in- 
lividuals. Journalists need a trade 
union as much a3 doctors, barristers 
and solicitors, who have long had 
hem. The National Union is found- 
ed on right principles because it 
consists solely of working journal- 
ists who are not proprietors. It is 
futile to endeavor to blend the 
two. ’ ’ 


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